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A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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02 Sep 2007, 15:49

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E

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26. A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.(A) A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that(B) So secret was a recording system installation and operation in the Kennedy Oval Office(C) It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(D) A recording system that was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(E) Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that

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02 Sep 2007, 16:00

IrinaOK wrote:

26. A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.(A) A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that(B) So secret was a recording system installation and operation in the Kennedy Oval Office(C) It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(D) A recording system that was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(E) Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that

Why can not it be E

b/w A and E.
E is out. it sounds awkward.
"E awkwardly inverts the order of the subject and predicate in the
main clause and thus cannot be logically connected to the remainder of the sentence."

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02 Sep 2007, 22:14

(A) A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that
(B) awkward
(C) 'It' has no clear reference
(D) awkward
(E) Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that

Between A and E, go with A. (I think 'E' is passive construction, not preferred)

Example: He was so hungry that he stopped at Burger King. / They ran so fast that they were out of breath by the time they got there.

Note: You can start with the descriptive word too! Ex: So hungry was he that he stopped....

Other 'so' idioms that the SC likes to mess with:

so that --> meaning "in order to"Ex.I must practice so that I will be prepared for the competition.

not so... as --> inequality comparisonEx. Tom is not so tall as Joe.

so+adjective1..... as to (be + adjective2)Ex. The politician's statement was so vague as to be ambiguous.NOTE! This idiom does NOT express cause and result! It is used to STRENGTHEN A DESCRIPTION.Incorrect: I must practice so as to be prepared for the competition.

In other words, DON'T MIX UP THESE IDIOMS! THEY ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE

(Many more important idioms are discussed in SC Lessons 9 and 10 at gmaxonline!)

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Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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28 Aug 2013, 19:45

IrinaOK wrote:

26. A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.(A) A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that(B) So secret was a recording system installation and operation in the Kennedy Oval Office(C) It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(D) A recording system that was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(E) Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that

Why can not it be E

OG explanation is not good, if I do not want to say that the og explanation is zero.

we, students, and even gmat experts have to infer the gmat thinking.

why E is wrong? there are many pattern in English which is CORRECT BUT NOT PREFERED. This point leads to situation in which a pattern is eliminated but this pattern appear in oa in other sc problem.

Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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03 Sep 2013, 09:53

vietmoi999 wrote:

IrinaOK wrote:

26. A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.(A) A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office that(B) So secret was a recording system installation and operation in the Kennedy Oval Office(C) It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(D) A recording system that was so secretly installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office(E) Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that

Why can not it be E

OG explanation is not good, if I do not want to say that the og explanation is zero.

we, students, and even gmat experts have to infer the gmat thinking.

why E is wrong? there are many pattern in English which is CORRECT BUT NOT PREFERED. This point leads to situation in which a pattern is eliminated but this pattern appear in oa in other sc problem.

Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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25 Dec 2013, 04:20

Hi,Can anyone explain why e is incorrect.I understand that it is in the form of an inverted expression but that too can be acceptable.I am not able to get a convincing answer even after searching a lot on google as to why E is incorrect.
_________________

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The so + that combination is used to show cause and effect. 'So' is followed by an adjective or adverb that is the cause of an action, and 'that' is followed by the result. E.g. She was so tired that she went to bed.

Option E says "Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that". Here, the cause and effect relationship is very ambiguous, because the part after 'so' is not immediately followed by the part with 'that'.

Also, note that in option E, 'that' is a relative pronoun: it refers to the noun before it, "recording system," and the meaning doesn't make any sense. In option A, 'that' correctly connects the effect to the cause. ('In the Kennedy Oval Office' is a modifier that can be removed without affecting the grammar of the sentence.)

Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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21 Jun 2014, 08:12

(C) It was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office

In option C, reference of pronoun it is not clear.It is not a place holder. it is interrupted by idiom so... that therefore that clause can not replace it.

If I say it= PlanPlan was so secret that a recording system was installed and operated in the Kennedy Oval Office (Plan make sense)

But we can not infer exactly what should be the antecedent of It.
_________________

Piyush K-----------------------Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time. ― Thomas A. EdisonDon't forget to press--> KudosMy Articles: 1. WOULD: when to use?| 2. All GMATPrep RCs (New)Tip: Before exam a week earlier don't forget to exhaust all gmatprep problems specially for "sentence correction".

A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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24 Dec 2014, 21:46

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akhil911 wrote:

Hi,Can anyone explain why e is incorrect.I understand that it is in the form of an inverted expression but that too can be acceptable.I am not able to get a convincing answer even after searching a lot on google as to why E is incorrect.

If you are not sure about an inverted sentence, just flip it.

E:Installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office was a recording system that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed.

Flip it: A recording system that even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed was installed and operated so secretly in the Kennedy Oval Office.

The flipped version definetely changes the intended meaning.

The original sentence use "so ... that ...." idiom, putting emphasis on "intstalled and operated secretly" and surprizing us with "even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed"

The flipped version uses "even Theodore C. Sorensen, the White House counsel, did not know it existed" just to modify "a recording system"

Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in [#permalink]

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Re: A recording system was so secretly installed and operated in
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10 May 2016, 09:07